Although the Colorado Rockies have never played a game seven in their 25-year history tonight’s N.L Wild Card game against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field in Phoenix, Arizona will be as close as it gets.
The winner moves on to the N.L.D.S to play the Los Angeles Dodgers, the loser is done for the year. After grinding it out for 162 games the season will be on the line for both the Rockies and the D-backs as they prepare to play a win-or-go-home matchup.
In a game where every pitch, every swing, and every at-bat will be important, both teams must focus on performing the best they can without being caught up in the magnitude of the moment.
Jon Gray will make the start for the visiting Rockies and that should make Colorado feel confident as he has been dominant at Chase Field this season where he has a 2-0 record, where he has held Arizona to a .269 batting average, allowed just one walk, four runs and struck out 20 batters in 13 innings of work.
Gray, who was drafted in 2013 and is making his first postseason career start, was clearly the Rockies’ best starter during the regular season. The 25-year-old compiled a 10-4 record while posting a 3.67 ERA and 24.3 percent strikeout rate over 110.1 innings pitched. He’ll face a tough test against a potent Diamondbacks’ lineup in hitter-friendly Chase Field.
These two teams met in 19 games during the regular season and of those Arizona won 11 times. The good news for the Rockies though is that when the teams played at Chase Field they each won five times.
Another reason for hope for the Rockies is that one of those road wins was against Zach Greinke (17-7, 3.20 ERA), who will start for Arizona tonight. The Rockies though have faced Greinke five times this year and their record against him this season though is 1-2. The good news though is that the other two games in which Greinke didn’t earn a decision were won by Colorado so their record against Arizona in games started by Greinke is 3-2.
Greinke this year has held Colorado to a .229 batting average and has struck out 37 batters as in 34.1 innings of work against the Rockies.
Although his ERA against the Rockies (3.41) is slightly worse than his season ERA the Diamondbacks feel confident he’s the best man for the job as he has previous postseason experience and probably can handle pressure better than anyone else in that locker room.
Arizona’s last playoff experience was in 2011 when they won the N.L West, while the Rockies last made the playoffs in 2009 when they clinched the N.L Wild Card. Right fielder Carlos Gonzalez is the only player left from that team.
The only other time the Rockies played a winner-takes-all game was in 2007 when they played the San Diego Padres in a tie-breaker game to decide who would earn the N.L Wild Card spot and move on to face the Philadelphia Phillies in the 2007 N.L.D.S. It was a one-game playoff that the Rockies won 9-8 in 13 innings.
